1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and method for constructing a surface shape from a plurality of contour lines provided on parallel or substantially parallel planes.
2. Description of Related Art
In the area of biomedicine, acquiring an accurate three dimensional (3D) surface of the human anatomy (e.g., bones, tumors, tissues) is very helpful in image-guided therapy, such as image-guided surgery, and radiation therapy planning. Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), and some ultrasound techniques make it possible to obtain cross sections of the human body.
A suitable approach for constructing a three dimensional surface of the human anatomy is made from the contour lines of human anatomy by the triangulation of a set of contours created from parallel slices corresponding to different levels. It can be briefly described as joining points of neighboring contour lines to generate triangles. The surface is represented by tessellating those contours, in which triangular elements are obtained to delimit a polyhedron approximating the surface of interest. The major problem in surface triangulation is the accuracy of the reconstructed surface and the reliability and complexity of the algorithm.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for a contour triangulation system and method that can generate any complex surface with very good accuracy. The generation of the complex surface preferably will be fast and reliable and suitable for real time application.